World’s most valuable company CEO loses $15 billion, exits top 10 richest list

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang lost his place in the world’s top 15 richest billionaires. According to Bloomberg, the tech billionaire lost nearly $15.1 billion in a day after the company’s stocks tumbled following Democrats’ sweeping victories in the midterm election. The loss dropped him to 13th from ninth on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Other billionaires whose wealth declined were Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Oracle founder Larry Ellison, who lost $79.7 billion and $10.1 billion, respectively.$2.5 trillion wiped off Nasdaq in one dayThe decline comes after the Nasdaq 100 index erased $2.5 trillion in market value in a single day on November 5 as Nvidia and other major technology companies suffered steep losses amid growing fears over the future of artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure spending in the US. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite plunged 5.5% on Thursday, marking its biggest one-day drop since the market sell-off triggered by US President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs in April 2025.The fall hit major tech companies include Nvidia and AMD whose shares dropped by 9% and 17% during Thursday’s trading session. Notably, Nvidia hit a market capitalization of $5.02 trillion earlier this week, regaining the title of world’s most valuable company from Apple.Why tech companies lost billions recentlyThe Democrats’ strong performance in the US midterm elections has raised concerns that local opposition and tighter scrutiny could slow the construction of new data centres. Several incoming Democratic governors, including in Texas, have called for an immediate moratorium on data centre development.Data centres require large amounts of electricity and water, raising concerns among communities about pressure on power grids and local resources. UBS analysts estimated that around 30% of expected US data centre capacity additions in 2028 could be at risk from potential construction pauses.Analysts have warned that the AI boom may be entering a phase where companies are judged not just on their growth potential but also on the cost of building and operating their infrastructure.